What sweet, what happy days had I,
When dreams made Time Eternity!

O tender yearning, sweet hoping!
The golden time of first love!
The eye sees the open heaven,
The heart is intoxicated with bliss;
O that the beautiful time of young love
Could remain green forever.

Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive
But to be young was very heaven.

In the change of years, in the coil of things, In the clamour and rumour of life to be, We, drinking love at the furthest springs, Covered with love as a covering tree, We had grown as gods, as the gods above, Filled from the heart to the lips with love, Held fast in his hands, clothed warm with his wings, O love, my love, had you loved but me!

By the waters of Life we sat together,
Hand in hand, in the golden days
Of the beautiful early summer weather, When skies were purple and breath was praise.

Your eyes were filled with love, Kate Vane;
Ah, would that we were young again!

Once, I remember well, my life was a feast where all hearts opened and all wines flowed.

Glorious and beautiful
Were youth's feeling and youth's thought—
Would that we did not annul All that in us then was wrought !
Would their influence could remain
When the hope and dream depart ;
Would we might through life retain
Still some youth within the heart !

Recalling former years’ romances,
Recalling love that time enhances,
With tenderness, with not a care,
Alive, at liberty once more,
We drank, in mute intoxication,
The breath of the indulgent night!
Just as a sleepy convict might
Be carried from incarceration
Into a greenwood, so were we
Borne to our youth by reverie.

The poets told thy birth Was welcomed upon earth By the sweet multitude of shining flowers,
By bursting buds, green leaves, and sunny hours.

The future seemed vibrant. It was the best time of our lives

I remember now how our bright spring green deepened.
With the years the seasons changed,
And we were lush as the underside of August.

The lines were fill'd with many a tender thing,
All the impassion'd heart's fond communing.

We have lived and loved together
Through many changing years;
We have shared each other's gladness,
And wept each other's tears.